


Burnin' Up (For You, Baby)

by kinkyacewonho (butwordsareallineed)



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Domestic, Bad Cooking, Cooking, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, M/M, Monsta X Bingo, Multi, OT3, Polyamory, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-14
Updated: 2017-02-14
Packaged: 2018-09-24 07:16:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9710636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/butwordsareallineed/pseuds/kinkyacewonho
Summary: After their first Valentine's Day together ended terribly, Hoseok and Minhyuk are determined to make this year special for their boyfriend Kihyun. Unfortunately, it doesn't go according to plan.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the "Valentine's Day" square of the winter edition of Monsta X Bingo.

It’s a little after ten o’clock at night when Hoseok finally gets home from his job at Starbucks. He slips off his shoes inside the entryway to his apartment and has just enough time to shrug off his coat before Minhyuk bounds in front of him, a chipper smile on his face despite the late hour.

“You’re home!” He exclaims, pulling Hoseok close to peck his cheek.

Hoseok chuckles. “Of course I am. Did you think I was going to run off with one of the pretty girls from the café?”

“Nah. You and I both know most of the girls are teenagers who come in because they think you look like an idol.”

“I do look like an idol.” Hoseok grins, revealing his gums, as he brushes past Minhyuk to get into the living room.

“Just keep telling yourself that,” Kihyun calls from the couch, where he’s looking over papers for work tomorrow.

Hoseok frowns, sitting down next to Kihyun. “Are you ever going to stop bringing work home?”

As Hoseok puts his arm around him, Kihyun sighs, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “It’s work, Hoseok. It has to be done.”

“Work, not homework.”

Minhyuk sits down on Kihyun’s other side, sandwiching him between them. “I don’t even do my homework.”

Kihyun knows from experience that he won’t be able to get any more work done tonight, so he sets the stack of papers back down on the coffee table, turning his attention to Minhyuk and Hoseok. “Okay, fine. What’s so important that you need to interrupt my work?” He sounds aggravated, but Hoseok knows he’s only teasing.

“Can’t we spend a little quality time with our boyfriend?” he asks, fluttering his eyelashes.

“Doesn’t sitting here together count as spending time with me?”

Minhyuk leans against him, puffing out his cheeks like a pouty child. “That’s not what we mean and you know it.”

Kihyun cracks a smile, pinching one of Minhyuk’s cheeks. “Okay. How was work today, Hoseok?”

Hoseok shrugs. “It was alright. Kind of a slow day, but we got the ingredients for the Valentine’s specials on the truck today, so they trained us on how to make those.”

“Valentine’s Day already?”

“It is January,” Hoseok points out. “It’s really not that early.”

Kihyun grumbles, and Hoseok and Minhyuk glance at each other over the top of his head. “Is something wrong, Kihyunnie?” Minhyuk asks.

“No. Valentine’s Day is just a stupid holiday.”

“It’s not that bad,” Minhyuk says. “Sure, it mostly exists to get people to buy things they don’t need, but the idea is nice. Spending more time with your loved ones isn’t a bad thing.”

“It is when everything’s geared towards couples.”

Hoseok sighs, knowing Kihyun’s saying that because of the bad experience they had on Valentine’s Day last year. While Kihyun loves Minhyuk and Hoseok, he’s wary of the way others perceive their unconventional relationship. He still hasn’t told his parents that his roommates are actually his boyfriends. Hoseok and Minhyuk are okay with that, because a lot of people don’t understand how it’s possible to love more than one person equally and at once. But for that to ruin Kihyun’s feelings towards a perfectly nice commercialized holiday? That’s unacceptable.

               

Last year was the first Valentine’s Day the three of them spent together since they started dating, so to celebrate, they decided to go out to eat at a nice restaurant. Minhyuk heard a few of his college classmates talking about a new place that opened up not too far from the Starbucks where Hoseok works, so after checking the reviews and menu online, Hoseok stopped by after work one day to make reservations.

When the trio arrived on February 14th, Hoseok approached the hostess, flashing his dazzling smile. “We have a reservation for Shin?”

She checked the records, nodding a bit when she found the proper information. “Yes, our last table for two. Right this way.”

Hoseok didn’t follow. “I didn’t ask for a table for two.”

The hostess – Ashley, her name tag read – double-checked the information on the computer. “It says you made reservations for our Valentine’s Day special.”

“Right, but I didn’t ask for a table for two,” Hoseok said, glancing at Minhyuk and Kihyun standing behind him. “The three of us are together.”

Ashley entered some more information into the computer, humming to herself. “We do have a table for four available right now, but it’s not a window seat like you requested. Is that okay?”

“That’s fine,” Hoseok said, eager to move on from the mix-up and enjoy their dinner.

Minhyuk nodded in agreement. “I just want food.”

Ashley led them to their table, and the boys began to look over their menus, discussing the different dishes that sounded appetizing to them. Their waitress, Suzy, introduced herself and took their drink orders – Kihyun and Minhyuk both ordered wine, while Hoseok, the designated driver, settled for a flavored tea. Suzy brought their drinks and said she’d be back in a few moments to take their orders, but soon Hoseok had nearly finished his tea and she still hadn’t returned.

The next time another waiter passed their table, Minhyuk flagged him down. “Excuse me. Our waitress said she’d be back soon, but it’s been a while, and we’re ready to place our orders.”

The waiter apologized and assured them he would check on the delay. Not long after, Suzy finally returned. “I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to keep you waiting. I just thought you’d want to wait for his date to arrive before you ordered,” she explained, nodding towards Kihyun.

He sputtered, nearly choking on his wine. “Excuse me?”

Suzy’s eyes widened. “Oh my god, did she stand you up? Oh no, that’s a sore subject, isn’t it? I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be insensitive.”

“He’s not waiting on a date,” Hoseok said, growing weary of her assumptions.

Instead of doing her job and taking their orders, Suzy blathered on. “Aww, so you’re letting him tag along on your date? That’s very sweet of you to try and keep your friend from feeling left out on Valentine’s Day. Now, what can I get you?”

Minhyuk kept his eyes on his menu, parroting off the name of the dish he wanted. A rude waitress wouldn’t keep him from enjoying his dinner, and he was beyond hungry.

Kihyun wasn’t willing to let it slide that easily. “I’m not tagging along with them,” he said once Minhyuk finished ordering. “We’re here together.”

Suzy seemed to have remembered how to do her job without butting into customers’ personal business, as she ignored Kihyun’s comment. “And what would you two like?”

Hoseok glanced at Kihyun, gauging his facial expression to make sure he wouldn’t overstep boundaries before he spoke. “I would like for my boyfriends and I to be respected,” he said, glancing down at the menu. “And the filet mignon.”

Suzy looked taken aback by the word “boyfriends” – as in plural, as in the three boys were all on a date together. It took her several seconds to register that Hoseok had ordered too, and she scribbled his order down on her notepad.

Kihyun ordered chicken parmesan, locking eyes with the waitress as he handed her his menu. He could tell from her pursed lips and knitted eyebrows that she wanted to say something disparaging about their relationship, but she must have reached her quota of rude comments for the day, as she stayed silent.

They never saw her again. When their food finally came, it was brought by the waiter who helped them earlier, who continued to serve them for the rest of the evening.

 

Hoseok understands why Kihyun is hesitant to go out for Valentine’s Day this year. None of them really want a repeat of what happened last year, and most of the Valentine’s specials are designed with couples in mind. But for Hoseok, the holiday has never been about buying expensive flowers or chocolates, or anything else advertisers try to sell. It’s an opportunity to make the people he loves feel special, to show them how much he cares about them. And Hoseok wants Kihyun to feel special.

The next day, Hoseok and Minhyuk have the house to themselves while Kihyun’s at work. They spend a good portion of the day cuddling on the couch, enjoying each other’s company and some mediocre television. With Valentine’s Day nearing, there’s a marathon of cheesy made-for-TV romance movies on every other channel. Minhyuk likes laughing at how bad they are; Hoseok genuinely likes them.

During a commercial break, Hoseok nudges Minhyuk, stealing his attention away from the fistful of popcorn he just shoved in his mouth. “Hm?”

“I still want to do something for Kihyun for Valentine’s Day,” Hoseok says. On the TV, a disembodied woman tries to sell an ugly necklace, apparently this year’s must-have needlessly expensive item for that special someone.

“Not get him that, I hope,” Minhyuk quips.

Hoseok chuckles, leaning his head on Minhyuk’s shoulder. “No, not that. I wouldn’t want to buy him anything, because he might feel bad if he didn’t buy something for us.”

Minhyuk hums thoughtfully, chewing on his popcorn. “What about dinner?”

Hoseok shakes his head. “I don’t want something like last year to happen again.”

“I know.” Minhyuk moves his hand to rest on the back of Hoseok’s neck, fingers absentmindedly playing with the short strands of hair there. “I meant what if we made dinner for him?”

Hoseok’s eyes brighten at the suggestion. “Minhyukkie, that’s perfect! He’ll probably have to work that day, so when he comes home tired and dreading the thought of cooking, he’ll be so surprised that we already did it.”

As the best chef of the trio, Kihyun handles most of the cooking at home. Hoseok survived primarily on a diet of instant ramyun and his mom’s cooking before moving in with Kihyun, and Minhyuk would eat nothing but takeout and microwave dinners if no one stopped him. Fortunately for their health, Kihyun is not only good at cooking, he enjoys it most of the time. He even toyed with the idea of attending culinary school before his uncle offered him a position at his firm. He makes good money there, and he still gets to try out new recipes on Minhyuk and Hoseok, so it’s a pretty satisfying compromise. But after especially draining days at work, even cooking sounds like a burden. Those are usually the days they order takeout, or Hoseok cooks a large pot of ramyun for them to share.

Hoseok actually isn’t terrible at cooking, but his skills are a lot more basic than Kihyun’s. His favorite dish is ramyun, but occasionally, when he’s not satisfied with his results at the gym, he’ll grill a pack of chicken breasts to eat for that week’s lunches, along with a few veggies for side dishes.

“We should cook something fancier than ramyun or grilled chicken breasts though,” Minhyuk says, prompting Hoseok to sit up.

“Do you doubt my culinary skills?”

“Yes.” Minhyuk giggles. Hoseok reaches into the bowl of popcorn and tosses a piece at Minhyuk’s chest, pelting him with it.

“My chicken breasts are good, okay? And Kihyun loves chicken. How much harder can it be to make a nice chicken dish?”

 

It can be much harder, it turns out. After searching the Internet for recipes that don’t sound too difficult, Minhyuk picks out a chicken cordon bleu. Hoseok is wary – the fancy French name implies a level of skill neither of them have – but the instructions are less intricate than the name suggests. Minhyuk has class that morning, but Hoseok gets the day off work, so he goes shopping to gather the ingredients.

They don’t cook right when Minhyuk gets back from class because they want the food to be fresh and warm when Kihyun gets home. After doing some quick math, they calculate that they should start cooking roughly an hour before Kihyun is scheduled to get off.

It goes surprisingly well at first. Hoseok handles most of the grunt work like flattening the chicken breasts and mixing the seasonings, but he lets Minhyuk add the ham and cheese and coat them. Minhyuk almost knocks the bowl off the counter, but Hoseok stops him just in time, and they only lose a tiny bit of the seasoning.

After Hoseok moves the bowl back a safe distance from the edge of the counter, to ensure a spill won’t happen again, he starts to heat the butter in a skillet while Minhyuk coats the rest of the chicken. Once they get the chicken cooking, he starts to mix the cream sauce, after checking with Minhyuk to make sure he knows when to flip the chicken so it will brown on both sides.

“It’s brown now!” Minhyuk calls after a few minutes.

Hoseok has his head stuck in the cabinet, looking for the right size skillet to heat the sauce. “Hold on, I’ll be there in just a minute.”

Before Hoseok can protest, Minhyuk says, “No, I’ve got it! We add the wine now, right?” followed by the sizzling sounds of wine being poured into a hot pan.

“And the bouillon,” Hoseok reminds him, emerging from the cabinet and going back over to the stove. He peers at the pan to check Minhyuk’s work and is surprised to see both ingredients added perfectly. “Good job, honey,” he says, clearly impressed, and Minhyuk beams.

Hoseok turns the heat on another burner for the skillet, and then reaches for the lid to cover the chicken breasts. “Now let that simmer for a bit while I heat up the sauce.” He whisks the sauce mixture into the skillet and stirs it every so often, waiting for it to thicken. After a bit, his nose twitches, smelling something strange.

“Do you smell that?” he asks Minhyuk.

He shrugs. “All I smell is food cooking.”

Hoseok leans closer to the skillet and inhales deeply, to check if it might be the sauce, but it smells perfect to him. “You added half a cup of wine, right? And a tablespoon of the bouillon?”

“Yes, I measured them exactly.”

Hoseok wracks his brain, trying to figure out what the strange scent could be, but he only has to wonder for a few more seconds before he hears the sound of something bursting into flames.

“The chicken!” Minhyuk shrieks, and Hoseok turns to see the entire pan engulfed with fire.

“Minhyuk, what did you do?”

“I didn’t touch it, I swear!”

Hoseok panics, rushing to the tap for water, but Minhyuk stops him. “You can’t use water on a cooking fire.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know, you just can’t.”

While they argue over what can and can’t be used to put out the fire, the flames continue to grow, quickly rising to the height of the stove.

“Where’s the fire extinguisher?” Hoseok asks.

Minhyuk bolts from the room, grabbing the fire extinguisher from where they keep it in the hall closet. “Stand back,” he tells Hoseok, aiming at the nozzle at the flaming pan and squeezing the trigger. Then the smoke alarms go off.

“Oh, thanks for the loud beeping now! That’s incredibly helpful, now that we’re already putting the fire out,” Hoseok complains.

Between the angry beeping of the alarms and the foamy spray of the fire extinguisher, neither of them notice the front door opening until a melodic voice sails over the shrill alarms. “Oh my god, what happened?”

Hoseok gasps. “Kihyun!”

Minhyuk successfully manages to smother the fire with the extinguisher, and the smoke alarms hush. He turns to face his boyfriend, giving him an apologetic smile. “Um, surprise?”

Kihyun sighs, a mix of exasperation and amusement. “I can’t leave you alone for a few hours without you nearly burning the house down.” He steps into the kitchen, eying the skillet with Hoseok’s unfinished sauce curiously. It’s clumpy and gross now, since Hoseok turned the heat off in the middle of cooking to deal with the chicken fire. “What is that?”

“We wanted to surprise you,” Hoseok says.

“We were making chicken cordon bleu!” Minhyuk adds

Kihyun can’t hide his snort of laughter. “You two tried to cook? Together?”

“Yes! And it was actually going well except Minhyuk forgot to turn the heat down after he added the wine to the chicken, so the whole thing went up in flames while I was making the sauce.” Hoseok pokes his lip out, and his eyes are sparkling like he might cry any second. “And now the whole thing’s ruined.”

Kihyun steps closer, pulling his boyfriends into a hug. “You didn’t have to cook for me.”

“We know,” Minhyuk says, wrapping his arm around Hoseok’s waist. “But we wanted to. Since Valentine’s Day last year sucked, we wanted this one to be better.”

“But all we did was make a mess.” Hoseok sniffles, and Kihyun strokes his hair gently.

“I’m touched that you tried,” he says softly, laying his head against Hoseok’s shoulder. “Even if it didn’t turn out, you made an effort.”

“But it’s Valentine’s Day!” Hoseok protests. “A burnt dinner isn’t good enough for Valentine’s Day.”

Kihyun chuckles. “Love, how many times do I have to tell you I really don’t care about this holiday?”

Minhyuk frowns. “Just because the waitress was shitty to you last year doesn’t mean –”

“It’s not because of the waitress,” Kihyun cuts him off. “I never liked Valentine’s Day. I just went along with it last year because you were both so excited, and I wanted to make you happy.”

“We wanted to make you happy too, Ki,” Hoseok says, and Kihyun smiles.

“You do. Both of you do, every day. I can’t remember ever smiling as much as I have since we started dating.”

“You really mean that?” Minhyuk asks.

Kihyun nods, leaning up to kiss his cheek. “I really do.”

Hoseok pulls Kihyun in for a real kiss, and then kisses Minhyuk too. “Happy Valentine’s Day, loves.”

“Happy Valentine’s Day,” Kihyun says back. “Now after we clean up this mess, what do you say we order pizza and watch some cheesy movies?”

Minhyuk hugs them both again. “That sounds perfect.”

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I took the title from a Jonas Brothers song.
> 
> Come find me on twitter! @kinkyacewonho


End file.
